Former TV personality Montel Williams has recently opened up about his long-term marijuana use. According to Business Insider, Williams has used cannabis every day for nearly 17 years. Montel, however, didn’t smoke marijuana. Due to a dexterity problem, he opted for vaporizing concentrated versions instead.

Montel Williams also suffers from multiple sclerosis (known as MS), which is a disease that causes the immune system to attack a person’s insulation around their nerves. The disease results in an intense burning situation that extends from your head all the way to your toes. Each morning, Williams is required to take a handful of pills in order to help ease the pain of his MS. He, however, started to supplement his cocktail of medication with marijuana in 1999.

According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, marijuana has been shown to improve and relieve the symptoms of a person who suffers from the disease. Montel’s decision to supplement his cocktail of medication with marijuana is something a lot of individuals who suffer from the condition do.

The former TV personality is so passionate about marijuana that he recently launched his own line of marijuana products, which were designed specifically for medical use. The products are available in 30 different dispensaries in the state of California.

It was The Montel Williams Show that made the former personality TV star famous and resulted in him being the very first African-American man to host a syndicated daytime talk show. The show ran for 17 seasons, and he hid his MS for the majority of the time. In fact, it was not until a tabloid threatened to print the story that Montel revealed his diagnosis on air.

After revealing his diagnosis, Williams began to open up about how he’d have to take long commercial breaks backstage. This made it possible for him to privately cry in pain.

“[I would] let it go, refocus, come back out and sit down, and do another interview with a person,” he told Oprah Winfrey in 2009. “I was doing that every day.”

After he was diagnosed with MS, Montel jumped in front of a taxi in New York City in an attempt to commit suicide. Unfortunately, depression is one of the more common symptoms of this painful condition. This was around the time he started using cannabis to help treat his condition. Today, Montel firmly believes that long-term marijuana use is the only reason he is able to function.

Montel lives in New York, which is the home of one of the most restrictive medical marijuana programs in the United States. His marijuana business in California, however, makes it easy for him to purchase and consume medical marijuana.

Williams, however, has a very different opinion of legalizing recreational marijuana. Despite being an avid user of marijuana, he isn’t sure legalizing recreational marijuana is the best idea. According to Williams, sugary weed and junk food laced with weed has dominated the dispensaries in states where recreational marijuana is currently legal. This baffles Montel as he does not believe all of that junk should be put in marijuana because, to him, it is medicine.

“They’re putting all kinds of junk in there. And I say, ‘Really? That’s medicine?'”

The former TV personality is concerned the increased demand for recreational marijuana products is going to result in people forgetting about the medical needs of those who use marijuana for medical reasons. Is legalizing recreational marijuana going to hurt those who benefit from it for medical reasons?

“This industry has gotten so caught up in making money, they forgot they’re leaving patients on the battlefield.”

Montel Williams hopes to expand his own cannabis business to every state with a medical marijuana program. He also hopes recreational marijuana won’t phase out all of the medicinal marijuana products.

Did you know Montel Williams had used marijuana for nearly two decades? Do you think he is right about recreational marijuana having a negative impact on medical marijuana?